Reyna, Rangers bounce back from Champions loss with strong effort.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Monday November 8, 1999) -- Just a few days after being bounced from the
Champions League, Glasgow Rangers showed they are still far and away the
class of the Scottish First Division with an easy 4-2 victory over Celtic.

This was the season's first so-called "Old Firm" match between the two
crosstown, sectarian, rivals.

American midfielder Claudio
Reyna, back from a month long thigh injury, played a strong match and
was involved in two of Rangers scoring plays. The victory moved Rangers four
points clear of Celtic, with a match in hand.

The victory showed Rangers' depth. On Wednesday, in the 1-0 Champions
League loss to Bayern Munich, they lost leading scorer Michael Mols for the
season in a collision with Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. Mols has been
Rangers best offensive player this season, but Reyna and his teammates
picked up the scoring slack.

Rangers now get ready for third-round play in the UEFA Cup, the consolation
prize for getting dumped out of the Champions League.

How well is Rayo Vallecano playing? Before the season, it would have been
happy to be mentioned in the same breath as longtime Madrid rival Real
Madrid. But to show how far Rayo has come, on Saturday night in front of a
international television audience, it dominated the first half against Real
and led 2-0 at the break.

Rayo could not hold off Real for 90 minutes, however. Less than a minute
into the second half Real's gifted young striker Fernando Morientes caught
Rayo defenders flatfooted and push the ball past United States goalkeeper
Kasey Keller after a long run.

Things looked better for Rayo when Morientes was sent off for swearing at
the referee

The big play of the match came in the 63d minute when Raul Gonzalez took
what to everyone except the referee seemed an obvious dive in the box, and
Hierro converted the resultant penalty kick to allow Real to draw level.
The goal seemed to take all the fight out of Rayo and Raul scored the
winner in the 85th on a magnificent chip that caught Keller flatfooted.

What an odd week it was for U.S. midfielder
Tony Sanneh and Hertha
Berlin. Despite a Champions League loss to group leader Chelsea, Hertha
advanced to the next round thanks to a shocking loss by A.C. Milan. Then on
Saturday, back in Bundesliga play, Hertha was taken apart by Eintracht
Frankfurt 4-0.

Sanneh, who played the entire Chelsea match, was inserted into the
Eintracht game for Andreas Neuendorf at the start of the second half with
Hertha already down 3-0.

One piece of good news for Hertha. It received a favorable Champions league
second-round draw. Although it is in the same group as favored Barcelona,
the other two teams in the group are Sparta Prague and Porto. What it
likely will come down to is whether Hertha can take four points from Porto.
If so, it could advance to the quarterfinals.

In the Netherlands, Ajax keeps winning league matches, but American
midfielder\defender John
O'Brien is watching from the sidelines thanks to an ankle injury. The
oft-injured O'Brien had finally regained match fitness and captured a place in
the starting team when he twisted the ankle. The injury is not considered
serious, but it has kept him out of Ajax's last three matches. It is not
clear whether he will be ready to play for the U.S. in Morocco on November 17.